#Rasputin Dämon der Frauen

[technicolorfamiliar]

Well, it took me a year, but I watched a billion 50+ Conrad Veidt films. Some good, some great, some so bad that I hope I never have to see them again.

This post is a stand in for the entire second half of this filmic journey -- I'll link the original 5 posts that make up the first part below. But instead of reposting all of my reviews for all of these titles (the original posts for these are on Pillowfort), I'll just share some highlights below the cut.

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5

Bleaker and darker than I expected, but that makes sense if it's based on a WWI memoir. What happened to Martha was legitimately awful and hard to watch. Stilted performances aside, I would have also liked a whole separate movie about the lesbian spy aunt. But Commandant Oberaertz... [redacted]. He's so hot, despite the character being absolutely awful and creepy and intimidating. I actually said "wow" out loud about his body shape in that costume. That jacket is fitted within a millimeter of its life. How many other films did Connie use this lower register in? Not many, right? It's too much, TOO MUCH. I think this movie took ten years off my life.

I Was a Spy, 1933

Dir. Victor Saville

⭐3/5

Watched Feb 18, Snowgrouse's masterpost

Connie's performance in this is more sympathetic than it has any right to be. The movie very easily could have been sensationalist garbage, and I'm so glad it was handled with relative care and humanity. I liked his whole vibe, I am not immune to party boy Rasputin's charms; "he's got the kavorca, the lure of the animal!" He looks like he stinks, which in this case may not necessarily be a bad thing. I don't even know what to make of all the cooing and baby talk he does with Alexei, or for that matter Drunk!Rasputin dancing and climbing over furniture to get at his ladies. I wish we got to see more scenes with Rasputin and the royal family, how those relationships formed and affected matters of state. We only really get to know about any of that through dialogue among other court officials. And so the emotional turn at the ending was unexpected. The way he cried out after being shot, I've never heard a sound like that come from a human being. Needless to say I did not feel great when the movie ended, but I liked it way more than I thought I would.

Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen, 1932

Dir. Adolf Trotz

⭐3/5

Watched Mar 23, Archive.org

Almost all the performances in this are pretty excellent. The stripped back, realistic style with handheld, newsreel camerawork really suits these actors and the story. Apparently this is a remake of an English film which is based on a play, and it definitely feels like a play. I'm fascinated by this little movie, it's basically an anti-war film about British soldiers in WWI produced in Germany in the early 30s… how did this even get made?? Messages about the horrors of war aside, the homoerotic undertones (overtones?) alone make this a truly unique piece of storytelling for the time and place it was filmed. And those under/overtones are treated pretty respectfully, none of these men are the butt of a joke, how they are with one another is handled with a naturalism that isn't really seen again until maybe the 1950s. And Connie. The range. Can we talk about Stanhope? He's a gruff, messy drunk, a traumatized, hollowed out husk of a man. When Osbourne says something like "you'll be alright when this is over," NO HE WOULDN'T, HE'D BE WORSE. His relationship with Raleigh is interesting too, clearly they were more than casual friends. I didn't believe for a second that the tension between Stanhope and Raleigh was about the sister/fiancée, it's weak, weak I tell you. It's one of Connie's most underrated performances.

Die andere Seite, 1931

Dir. Heinz Paul

⭐3.75/5

Watched Apr 27, Snowgrouse's masterpost

Everyone in this movie looks like a Rankin Bass stop motion character. The ending was abrupt as fuck, Werner Krauss' Jack the Ripper got a lot less screen time and I wonder if they just tacked that onto the end after they realized they spent too much time on Emil Jannings' and Connie's characters. There's a lot of fondling going on in this movie, there's the guy with the bread in the first part, then Connie going all glassy-eyed caressing his globes. Ivan the Terrible is a certified DIVA in that diaphanous, white robe, even with the hard middle part and scraggly beard. What is he doing with his tongue the whole time, though?? Love that he crashes some random girl's wedding, lets her father get murdered by assassins, kidnaps her AND her husband, and brings them both home to his sex dungeon. Connie is doing the most -- the eyes, the gestures, all the greatest hits from his silent film acting tool box, he's whipping them out for this role.

Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (Waxworks), 1924

Dir. Paul Leni, Leo Birinski

⭐2/5

Watched May 29, Archive.org

I didn't like this movie, I just wanted an excuse to post this screenshot. But it actually is a very silly little movie, with what must have been an enormous budget for costumes and sets, and it has some cute physical comedy. Sadly, Connie's in too little of the film to save it from being obnoxious. I did like the Czar's body double who just wanted to work on his needlepoint, and the Court Spanker who was clearly really into his job. And of course Metternich, that sly dog, that velvet-clad scamp. Between the all the foxy, gap-toothed grinning he does and the way he's going to town on that dialogue, he is as always a pleasure to watch. The English version is on Youtube somewhere, so I may go through that and pick out the time stamps for Connie's scenes because I don't think I could sit through this whole movie again, especially not that stupid fucking "Wien und der Wein" song, jesus christ.

Der Kongress tanzt, 1931

Dir. Erik Charell

⭐2/5

Watched Jun 23, Snowgrouse's masterpost

Apparently this movie was considered a flop, and Connie wasn't super happy with this role and others around this time. I think I must have had that info in the back of my mind somewhere going into this movie, because my expectations were pretty low. So, as usual, I actually wound up liking it more than I thought I would. It's a lot sillier than it has any right to be, but yeah it's ultimately a piece of fluff compared to some of the other heavy-hitting films on this list. I love when Connie has a comedic foil like the Marius character, but it could have been a lot better if the dialogue was snappier and the timing tighter. And Connie's character promises to be this bad bitch at the top of the movie, but all we get is one quick, poorly choreographed sword fight and a whole bunch of nothing after that. There's all this build up, I mean, the character is nicknamed The Black Death, and the movie never really lets the character live up to the name. It's a missed opportunity for sure. That said, the Puffy Shirt with the open collar "ensconced in velvet" (to risk yet more Seinfeld references), jaunty hat, knee-high boots with spurs look is really doing it for me. And THERE ARE PUPPIES. Perhaps the most delightful thing that has ever happened in cinematic history. I couldn’t believe it. Connie picked up the first puppy and said, "You big boy, you!" and I hate him, like full Madeline Kahn Mrs. White "flames… on the side of my face." I hate him so much.

Under the Red Robe, 1937

Dir. Victor Seastrom

⭐2.5/5

Watched Jul 17, Youtube

[suchamiracle-does-exist]

Evolution of Conrad Veidt 🎬

Thanks @matthew-garth for suggesting the idea and music 🫰🏻

Such a miracle does exist on TikTok

[fourorfivemovements]

Films Watched in 2023:

11. Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen/Rasputin, Demon of the Women (1932) - Dir. Adolf Trotz

[sometimesigif]

GRIGORI RASPUTIN IN NON RUSSIAN CINEMA Dämon der Frauen (1932) dir. Adolf Trotz Rasputin played by CONRAD VEIDT

[thebrideofreanimator]

i have a conrad question™- do u have any german talkies you recommend with him? i realized that i've only ever seen one movie where he speaks and it was english, and now i wanna now what he sounds like in his native language.

alrighty so i haven’t seen as many german conrad talkies (rlly need to watch more) but here’s a couple of them

• “Ich Und Die Kaiserin” (The empress and i) This puts conrad in a musical comedy! fun! (he doesn’t rlly sing though sorry to dissapoint) it’s on youtube in meh quality and not subtitled but still worth checking out

• “Rasputin, Dämon Der Frauen” this one’s about you guess it: rasputin (played by conrad)! It’s on youtube with subtitles too! It’s not the best quality but conrad does a great performance, his scenes are great.

and here’s a few i have yet to see (but will watch very soon) but i know some of my mutuals like

• “Der Mann, der den Mord beging” (the man who committed murder)

• “Die Andere Seite” (the other side)

• “Der Schwarze Husar” (the black hussar)

[veidtveidtveidt]

Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen (1932)

Since it’s one of the most, if not *the* most requested movie of the bunch, I’ve uploaded Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen (1932) to Archive.org. You can grab it from there (right click, save as on the “cinepack” link below the video screen), or watch it there, with English subtitles (the “subrip” link) courtesy of your fellow Veidt fans, (FFF and yours truly, as far as I can remember).

https://archive.org/details/rasputindamonderfrauen

Whether it’ll stay up is anyone’s guess, but it should be in the public domain as far as I know. This is the same file that bootleggers sell on eBay and such as DVD-Rs, BTW, so that’s what you’ll get from them as well, until a restoration comes out (if ever). So, here you go.

[sci-firenegade]

Thank you for the tag!

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Currently reading: Gay Berlin by Robert Beachy

Currently watching: Rasputin: Dämon der Frauen (not as exciting as the title makes it appear). Herr Veidt very good, though.

Currently craving: popcorn, for whatever reason

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[aikainkauna]

Stills from Rasputin: Dämon Der Frauen (Rasputin: Demon With Women), 1932.

[seventh-victim]

promotional poster for the 1932 German historical film,  Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen (English: Rasputin, Demon with Women)

still image of Conrad Veidt as Rasputin from the same film

[filmforfancy]

Still capturing the final sequence of Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen (1932).

[meeedeee]

Conrad Veidt: It's A Sin

Fandoms: Conrad Veidt - Fandom, Actor RPF, Der Student von Prag | The Man Who Cheated Life (1926), Carlos and Elisabeth (1924), Anders Als Die Andern (1919), Lucrezia Borgia (1922), Rasputin: Dämon Der Frauen (1932), The Last Performance (1929), The Thief of Bagdad (1940), The Wandering Jew (1933), A Woman's Face (1941), Jew Süss (1934), Fanvids - Fandom, vidding - Fandom

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Conrad Veidt characters/Sin

Cesare Borgia/Lucrezia Borgia

Torsten Barring/Anna Holm

Paul Körner/Kurt Sivers

Rasputin/lots and lots of wimminz

Jaffar/Princess (Thief of Bagdad)

Matathias/Joanne de Beaudricourt

Don Carlos/Elisabeth of Valois

Erik the Great/Julie Fergeron

Jaffar (The Thief of Bagdad (1940))

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin

Don Carlos

Torsten Barring

Balduin (Der Student von Prag (1926))

Cesare Borgia

Conrad Veidt

Joseph Süss Oppenheimer

Matathias (the Wandering Jew)

The Wandering Jew - Character

(Feed generated with FetchRSS) source https://archiveofourown.org/works/24971338

[filmforfancy]

Conrad Veidt's astonishing transformation into the infamous Russian monk, Rasputin, for Adolf Trotz's Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen (1932).

[filmforfancy]

Lovely UFA portrait of Edith Meinhard, who starred in such films as Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) & Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen (1932).